The Almighty Smallest.
by Ztarlight
Summary: My first baby Zim fic! Since so many of you were a bit upset with the ending of Ch.2, I posted a third chapter. Hope you like!
1. Default Chapter

(Hiya, Zim-fans! I have returned with.......[drumroll] a baby-Zim fic! I just wuv baby Zim, don't you? ^-^ Anyway, I do hope you like. I had nothing else to do today in  
study, so I wrote up a wittle ficcy! Invader Zim is not mine [but Dae is, pronounced like 'day'], that undeniabely great honor belongs to Jhonen Vasquez. Bless his   
soul for putting up with all this "No Zim on Nick" crisis.)  
  
  
The Allmighty Smallest  
  
  
splosh, squeeze, slap!...mop mop mop  
  
Dae sighed deeply and wiped the sweat off her brow. God, how she hated to mop and yet, day in and day out, she mopped.  
  
splosh, squeeze, slap!...mop mop mop  
  
"Stupid Red," she muttered. "Gotta submit ot his every command, ALL the time..." Dae clenched her teeth. " 'Dae, do this.' 'Dae, do that.' 'Dae, the floor by the  
birthing hatch is dirty...' I don't know why I have to mop the dang floor for him. HE doesn't even walk on it!"  
  
Thank goodness for Purple, she thought gratefully. He had a little bit of sense in him. HE didn't crtisize her every move. "And HE doesn't sick me with pointless----"  
  
BEEP BEEP BEEP  
  
"...chores," she finished. Looking up, Dae could see a blinking red siren, informing and passerby that there was a disturbance in the birthing quadrant. Dae sighed  
and set down her mop. "I might as well see what's up." She glowered. "Red would just make me take care of it anyway."  
  
Inside the birthing quadrant, Dae made her way through cautiously, not really knowing what to expect. "Aha! Here's the...problem?! A baby!!"  
  
A tiny baby Irken had clung itself tightly to the robotic birthing claw. He happily nuzzled his face into the bar and said, "I love you, cold, unfeeling robot arm."  
  
Dae groaned. She was a cleaner, not a baby-sitter! Still...she couldn't leave him there. Softly, she grasped the tiny baby's soft body. "Oh, my God, he's so cold!) she  
thought with alarm. (If he doesn't get warmed up soon, he'll) "Hey there, little guy," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "C'mon. Leggo of that. We gotta get you  
outta here before...something bad happens." Dae began to tug on his abdomen.  
  
(Dang, he's strong,) she thought. She pulled a little harder "Come...on, kid. We...gotta get you...outta here!" But the young one refused to release his grip.  
  
Suddenly the arm that the baby was hugging began to jerk wildly, sending he and Dae into a wall behind them. The baby, feeling horribly rejected, started to wail.  
  
Dae winced. (Great. He's crying now.) "Hey...hey there now. Don't cry," she cooed. "It's...it's alright. It's gonna be okay. You'll be fine."  
  
The tiny baby turned to see where the voice had come from. His wailing faded to a soft whimper.  
  
Dae sighed with relief. "That's better. Now let's go get you eqipped, okay?" She held out her hand.  
  
The baby Irken's adorably huge eyes studied the sight in front of him. Dae was a rather tall Irken...not as tall as Red or Purple, but a decent height for a woman. She  
wore the usual Irken attire, only without stripes, over her smooth olive skin. Her antennae curled at the tips, and dark, thick eyelashes grazed the top of her reddish-  
purple orbs. If she were human, she would have been about 15. The baby's glance shifted from Dae's eyes to her outstretched hand. Her eyes. Her hand. Eyes.  
Hand. Eyes. Hand. Finally, the small one jumped as high as he could and latched onto Dae's left shoulder, tiny arms struggling to squeeze her neck with all their  
might.  
  
Dae was a bit taken aback at his actions, but smiled at the young one perched on her, "Okay, okay," she said hurriedly. "I get it. Let's...get you dressed, shall we?"  
  
Dae found a uniform in his size and helped him squirm into it. "So..." she asked him, "What's your name?"  
  
The little one looked up and smiled grandly. "Me Zim."  
  
"I'm Dae."  
  
"Can I call you 'Mommy'?"  
  
"...I'd prefer you wouldn't, but..." Dae looked at his big shiny eyes, "[sigh] If it makes you happy..." she threw up her hands. "Sure, why not?"  
  
"YAY!" Zim clung to her shoulder again.  
  
"Oh!" Dae pulled him off. "Okay, okay. That's great. You're happy. Look, you need your shots now."  
  
Zim was taken to another quadrant where he was administered several immunization shots and several imformital injections. Dae winced at the sound of his cries.  
  
Zim stumbled out into the nursery where he would begin his training. Dae smiled and turned to finish her cleaning.  
  
The next thing she knew she was eating the floor. Zim had seen her walking away and in a panic, tackled her. He perched on her head and leaned over to look her  
in the eye. "Where are you going, Mommy?!" he asked with fear.  
  
Dae stood up. "I have things to do, and you have things to do. They're just not the same things."  
  
Zim still clung to her antennae. "Don't go! Don't leave me!!" he wailed.  
  
"I'm not...leaving you," Dae said, finally unattatching Zim from her head. "I just...have a job to do. You have one too. Over there." Dae pointed to where several other  
baby Irkens were examining the training equipment.  
  
Zim amazingly seemed to understand. "Okay. I'll do a good job then. Bye, Mommy." Zim slid down to join the group.  
  
Dae smiled gently as she watched him eagerly play. (He's so cute...) she thought. (Too bad I'm "mothering" a mop at the moment.)  
  
"Did he just call you 'Mommy'?"  
  
Dae turned around to see Tallest Purple standing before her. "P-p-p-purple!" she stuttered, bowing gracefully. "My Tallest..."  
  
Purple placed a hand on her shoulder. "There'll be no need for that."  
  
"Huh?" Dae looked up into Purple's eyes.  
  
Purple and Dae had been friends for a long time, and his eyes still reflected the friendship they shared. He gave her arm a little squeeze. "Now, to answer my  
question, did he---"  
  
"Yes, he did," Dae cut in. "He did, and..." she looked at Zim, "and I guess I liked it..."  
  
"But you know it won't happen, Dae..."  
  
Dae hung her head. "Yeah, I know, but..." she looked at Zim again, then at Purple. Just,...watch him for me, please?"  
  
Purple blinked. "Huh?"  
  
"That one...he's small, but...there's something special about him." She sighed happily. "Well, I guess I'd better get back to that mopping." She turned to walk away.  
  
Purple grabbed her wrist. "Wait."  
  
Dae turned. "What?"  
  
"I'd like to know a bit more about this...special one..."  
  
"Zim."  
  
"Zim, right." He cleared his throat. "I'm busy at the moment, but later...can you meet me?"  
  
Dae smiled mischievously. "I can try."  
  
Purple nodded. "Good." He walked off.  
  
As much as she wanted to follow, Dae REALLY had to get her mopping finished. "Goodbye, My Tallest," she said to the fading figure of Purple.  
  
She took one last glance at Zim. "And goodbye, My Smallest."  
  
  



	2. Daedreams

(Hiya, peoples! I'll be honest - I wasn't planning on going a sequel to this, but at least HALF of my reviewers said that they'd like to me write more. So, here  
is the second chapter to "The Almighty Smallest". Before I go, though...I want Nickelodeon to hear our cries, so if those [beep]ity-[beep]s decide to not show  
Zim AGAIN tonight, I say we all walk to our windows and scream bloody doom. [No, not bloody murder. This IS Zim we're talking about.] If they DO show it  
tonight [and they'd better; I need my Zim-fix...] I say we all walk to our windows and scream bloody glee....or something like that...)  
  
  
  
The Almighty Smallest - Chapter Two  
Daedreams  
  
  
beep beep beep...hmmmmmm....foooom!...  
  
Dae stepped back and admired her work. Much time has passed since she "adopted" Zim, and now she was currently working on a new project - lasers! "So  
what if I'm not that fond of Red," she mused, "Lasers ARE neat!!" She picked up the welder and started to work again.  
  
She was assigned to repair Red's new toy - a fifty-foot nuclear-powered laser cannon designed to easily annialhate it's target with a single blast. Yea, it was  
dangerous, but it was a lot better than..."mopping..." Dae shuddered.  
  
At that moment there was a beeping sound, informing Dae that someone was present at the door. "Come in," she yelled, turning off her equipment.  
  
A young male Irken stepped through the doorway. "Hi, Dae..."  
  
Dae lifted her mask and smiled at who stood before her. "Zim!" she cried happily. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm bored. I was told that I could find you here."  
  
"Oh...okay...What did you me for?"  
  
Zim walked up to Dae. He had grown a lot since he was born. As a baby, he could easily perch atop Dae's head. Now he was nearly as high as her legs   
were. He looked up. "I wanna learn."  
  
Dae scratched her head, confused. "Learn...? But...you're in the training course, right? Everything you need to learn is taught there."  
  
"Yes, everything I NEED to learn, not what I WANT to learn."  
  
"But what do you want to learn?"  
  
Zim blinked his eyes, which were full of determination. "I want to learn BEYOND the invader course. I want to explore the true powers of the Irken technology,  
not just, 'Push the red button that says start'. I want - no, I NEED to study a new course in the invaders' league!!" he panted wildly as he tried to catch his breath.  
  
Dae smirked. "And...lemme guess. You want me to teach you."  
  
"YES!!!" Zim screamed.  
  
"But...why ME?"  
  
"Because you...you...dohhh..." Zim fumbled for words. Being soft was something he wasn't supposed to do, but Dae was his only true friend. "You are the only  
other soul on this planet that understands me..." Zim looked away.  
  
Dae laughed lightly. "Oh,... Zim," she put a hand on his shoulder, "Okay. I'll do it."  
  
Zim looked up and blinked his eyes again, which were still adorably big and shiny. "You...you will?"  
  
"Sure. Just as long as you promise not to tell anyone." She held out her hand.  
  
Zim once again studied Dae. Sure, he'd known her forever, but every time her saw her, he felt like he was meeting her for the first time again. (Maybe cuz I   
like remembering how we met...) Zim thought with a smile. Instead of grasping her hand, he jumped up as hard as he could and latched onto her left shoulder.  
"I promise, Mommy."  
  
Dae choked. God, how it got to her every time he called her that. He didn't call her Mommy nearly as often as he used to, but when he did...it all made her   
life seem worth living. "g...g-Good..." she squeaked out. "Now," she said, setting him down, "This here is called a photon-nuetronic compulsion blaster..."  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"...I passed it with flyng colors! The study tips you gave me really helped. Thaks a lot, Dae."  
  
"...You're quite welcome, Zim..." Dae said quietly.  
  
Zim looked across the table at her with alarm. "Hey, Dae, are you alright? You haven't been saying much..."  
  
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I guess I haven't been feeling all that great lately..."  
  
"What's wrong?" Zim asked worredily.  
  
Dae spooned her dessert thoughtfully before answering. "You're really lucky, Zim."  
  
Zim blinked in confusion. "Me? Lucky? Why?"  
  
She glanced away. "Oh, you get to be an Invader, prove yourself a true Irken, and blow stuff up for a living. Me? That was me dream, Zim. To be an Invader,   
but...well, life doesn't always tuen out the way you plan. Be grateful for what you have Zim, and never lose an oppertunity to do something great." Dae smiled  
sadly at her young friend.  
  
Zim sat silent. "Wow...okay, whatever you say, Dae. I'll follow your advice." He smiled. "After all, it's only led me to good places!" He ran off.  
  
Dae blinked back tears as she watched Zim leave. "I hope it does. Any place is better off than mine."  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dae walked slowly past where the old excavation site had been. It was roped off, but a long time ago it was a busy site for mining energy showls...How she   
remembered so clearly. Showls were incredible sources of energy on Irk, and they were highly valuable...  
  
Perhaps that's why the Lirnens were so eager to get their hands on them.  
  
Dae had been working in the site by bringing refreshments and supplies to the miners. Among them was her dear friend, Rin, whom she had a HUGE crush  
on, but of course, she'd never admit it. It was then, she had been talking to him, when the Lirnens attacked!  
  
They immediately slaughtered anyone they could find outside the mine, and then threw a bomb inside it to kill off any workers. But this was not your usual   
bomb. This bomb in particular spread an infectious virus that would kill anyone who breathed it.  
  
Dae had been away from Ground Zero at the time, but the news spread quickly to where she was. Panicked, she ran to the inside of the mine, by this time  
the cloud had subsided. She cried to her fallen friend, "No, Rin! Please, you can't leave me! I...I love you..."  
  
But it was too late. Rin had already fallen victim to the virus and lay there, lifeless, not knowing how Dae truly felt. She sat there with his body for hours, weeping.  
  
After this, Dae changed drastically. She kept to herself, never spoke too much, never wanting to get close to anyone again, for the fear of herself getting hurt,  
and for fear of the other person as well.  
  
And then Zim came along.  
  
Try as she might, Dae could never resist his charm and cuteness. She forgot her fear of losing, of hurt. All she knew was her "son".  
  
And then she learned that she had contracted the virus.  
  
A small amout of it, indeed, but enough to slowly damage her internal organs. She didn't know how much longer, but she didn't have the heart to tell Zim.  
"But if he finds out on his own...it'll hurt him even more." Dae gazed deeply over the skyline.  
  
"I just don't know what to do."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Zim hummed a happy tune under his breath. He had gotten picked for Operation: Impending Doom! He opened the door to his room and examined the  
variuos letters in his mailbox.  
  
"Let's see...what to pack...what buttons to push...what planets to blow up...what---what's this?" He looked over a hastily scribbled note.  
  
  
/Zim/  
/Dae is is the sickbay/  
She asked that I bring this to you/  
  
/ - Purple/  
  
  
"Sickbay?! For what...!" Zim recalled how Dae said she didn't feel her best. "No, DAE!!"  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Dae? Dae!!"  
  
"Hey, watch where you're going!"  
  
"Shut up and get out of my way. DAE!!!!"  
  
Panting heavily, Zim ran into the room. Dae lay there, pale and limp.  
  
Zim took a step back. Was she..."Dae!!"  
  
Dae slowly opened her eyes. "Z...Zim..."  
  
He ran to her side. "Dae, what happened?"  
  
Weakly, Dae lifted her hand and pointed to a diary on the stand next to her. "Read that." It contained all of the info on the incident.  
  
Zim read it, and looked up at Dae, pure fear on his face. "Dae...why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I didn't...want...to hurt you...I care...about you...too much, Zim..."  
  
"But I'm leaving tomorrow! Dae, please, hold on for me..."  
  
"I'll try Zim... I'll try..."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, Zim set out to his ship. As he got in, he was stopped by a messenger. "My Smallest..."  
  
Zim whirled around. "What do you want?!  
  
"It...it's about Dae..."  
  
Zim got worried. "What about her? Is she alright?!"  
  
The massenger shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, sir. She...died this morning."  
  
Zim dropped his mouth in shock. Tha messanger went on. "Her heartbeat failed..."  
  
Zim said nothing, but got into his ship and went nuts, his rage and fear overtaking him. "You there!! Push some buttons!! And you, pull some levers!! PULL   
SOME LEVERS!!!!"  
  
"But sir," a passenger complained, "We're still on our own planet!!"  
  
"I SAID PULL SOME LEVERS!!!!" Zim screamed, not hearing him. He had to prove himself a true Invader He had to fulfill some dreams.  
  
His dreams.  
  
And Dae's.  
  



	3. Pilgrim

(Okay, I know many of you were upset with the second chapter, so I came up with an idea for a third. This one gets kinda poemy, and the song lyrics used are  
for a song titled "Pilgrim" by Enya, one of my most fav musicians. If you've never heard the song, you should, it's really pretty.)  
  
  
  
The Almighty Smallest  
Chapter Three: Pilgrim  
  
  
  
It's been a long time now...several years, in fact.  
  
  
She still sees everything.  
  
  
Floating among the stars...  
  
  
Watching over...  
  
  
Him...  
  
  
Softly, she sings...  
  
  
  
/Pilgrim, how you journey/  
/On the road you choose/  
/To find out why the winds die,/  
/And where the stories go./  
  
  
  
(Where DO the stories go?) she asked herself.  
  
  
  
/All days come from one day/  
/That much you must know,/  
/You cannot change what's over/  
/But only where you go./  
  
  
  
(Yes! You CAN change where you go.) She thought hopefully. (Please, my son, don't go!)  
  
  
But he still went, blind to the truth...  
  
  
How she wished to tell him, but...  
  
  
Sadly, she could not.  
  
  
All she could do was watch over him.  
  
  
(And that's just what I'm going to do.)  
  
  
  
/One way leads to diamonds/  
/One way leads to gold/  
/Another leads you only/  
/To everything you've told.../  
  
  
  
(But...) she thought worriedly, (What does THIS way lead to?)  
  
  
She decided to follow and see.  
  
  
  
/In your heart you wonder/  
/Which of these is true;/  
/The road that leads to nowhere/  
/The road that leads to you./  
  
  
  
The ship was close.  
  
  
It entered, settled, and began life anew.  
  
  
Yet, he still didn't understand...  
  
  
(Why?) he thought.  
  
  
He didn't know, but she did.  
  
  
She prayed.  
  
  
  
/Will you find the answer/  
/In all you say and do?/  
/Will you find the answer/  
/In you?/  
  
  
  
True, she cannot tell him, yet she still tries to tell him...  
  
  
Tries to reassure him...  
  
  
He's not alone.  
  
  
  
/Each heart is a pilgrim/  
/Each one wants to know/  
/The reason why the winds die/  
/And where the stories go./  
  
  
  
(We ALL want to know that...) she thought with a smile.  
  
  
  
/Pilgrim, in your journey/  
/You may travel far,/  
/For, Pilgrim, it's a long way/  
/To find out who you are.../  
  
  
  
She entered, and sought out her fate.  
  
  
Her life.  
  
  
Her son.  
  
  
  
/Pilgrim, it's a long way/  
/To find out who you are.../  
  
  
  
She entered, swaying gently throught the air...  
  
  
She stood over his sleeping form, and lightly caressed his cheek with her lips, and whispered,  
  
  
"Pilgrim, it's a long way to find out who you are..."  
  
  
Dae took one more longing glance at Zim before disappearing into the rising sun.  
  
  



End file.
